Good luck reforming the Department of Defense

[rangerrebew]

Good luck reforming the Department of Defense
by Harlan Ullman, opinion contributor - 12/10/24 10:30 AM ET
 
No matter who President Donald Trump’s secretary of Defense ends up being, that person will be charged with disrupting the Pentagon to reform it and annihilating any vestiges of diversity equity and inclusion and wokeness.

But reforming and transforming the Department of Defense are aspirations, not actions.


When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union collapsed, the main threat to the U.S. and its allies vaporized. Yet, the U.S. made relatively modest reductions to its forces, cutting back by about 25 percent.

We have a few instructive examples of attempted reform. When Robert McNamara was President John Kennedy’s choice for secretary in 1961, he brought to the Pentagon, the “Whiz Kids.” In addition to relative youth and huge brainpower, this team believed that systems analysis, through intellect and rigor, could solve any problem and turn the management of defense into a more precise business. McNamara had served in World War II in the analytical branch of the Army Air Corps and later went on to be the first non-Ford to become president of that company.

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5030148-pentagon-defense-reform-history/

[DefiantMassRINO]

There was informal, quiet reform from the bottom in the post-Vietnam Era.  Many of the officers moving up in the ranks had fought in Vietnam, and did not want a repeat of 'Nam.  That's what enabled the US to win the Cold War and the First Gulf War.

Top down reform is difficult because of the rotation of incoming and outgoing political appointments with ever-changing agendas, priorities, and conflicts of interest.

Pentagon positions are often more about persons positioning themselves for a post-military career as a Defense lobbyist or Defense contractor executive.